Democrats lost the impeachment battle, though they admit nothing publicly yet. However, they give signs all the time.
For example, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s refusal to submit articles of impeachment to the Senate. Talk about a poker “tell”.
After all the wrangling Democrats did with not one, but two kangaroo courts with the House Intelligence Committee and the House Judiciary Committee, then no action?!
Democrats have feared President Donald Trump since the day he was elected. No Democrat in leadership believed in a remote possibility of a Trump presidency. So from Day One, Democrats vowed to “trump” up charges, pun intended.
But Democrats never counted on Trump pushing back so hard. Worse yet for Democrats, Trump doesn’t just fight, he wins.
So now according to The Hill, Democrats fear a more emboldened Trump.
Senate Democrats are bracing for President Trump to seize on the outcome of the upcoming impeachment trial as a source of momentum for his reelection bid.
With 67 votes needed to convict and remove Trump from office, the trial’s outcome is largely pre-baked since Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the chamber. Democrats are worried that an acquittal will only embolden the president, and they feel powerless to prevent it.
“No matter what we do, the president is going to say he did nothing wrong,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
“We all know the president,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat. “If there are not 67 votes to convict in the Senate, he’ll claim that it was a witch hunt and that he was exonerated.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), when asked about the potential fallout from an acquittal, added: “I am worried about that, but I think this president feels unconstrained by anything already.”
Trump may be the third president to face impeachment, but this particular impeachment is definitely one of a kind. Not only were these articles adopted along party lines, but they also backfired almost instantly. Never has a nation been so deeply divided, and never has the controlling party been so quick to promise vindication.
Guaranteed Victory
At this point, Republicans practically guaranteed Trump a 2020 landslide by acquitting him of these ‘trumped up’ charges.
The Hill continues:
Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.) said in a recent “Meet the Press” interview on NBC that he was “gravely concerned” about Trump’s potential behavior between the end of the Senate trial and the 2020 election.
“If he is ultimately exonerated in the Senate, if the Senate Republican majority refuses to discipline him through impeachment, he will be unbounded,” Coons said, predicting that there would be “no restrictions” on Trump’s behavior.
Concern about the possible repercussions stemming from Trump being acquitted comes as the Senate is expected to start the trial in January, though the exact date is in limbo amid a stand-off between Democrats and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) over the rules of the chamber’s proceedings.
Let’s Get it On
In the words of the famed Marvin Gaye, let’s get it on. No need to keep putting off the inevitable. Oddly enough, Democrats were in a big hurry. Then, truths such as the Horowitz Report started seeping out. Now, liberals want to take their sweet time.
However, Trump is pushing for a quick trial, tweeting that “no more time should be wasted on this impeachment scam.”
“This Witch Hunt must end NOW with a trial in the Senate,” he added.
Many Republicans are on board with a shorter trial. It’s possible that House “managers” would present their case, senators would cross examine, and then move to a vote.
Though both McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) have said they hope to reach a bipartisan deal on the trial rules, no progress is expected on that front until the first week of January at the earliest, when senators return to Washington. Absent a deal between the two leaders, 51 senators will be able to determine the shape of the trial since only a simple majority is needed to decide procedural motions.
That scenario has sparked concern among Democrats, who worry McConnell could try to force through his own rules resolution if enough of his caucus is on board.
“If the Senate essentially treats this trial like a sham … doesn’t call witnesses and tries to end it quickly, tries to call witnesses that have nothing to do with the Ukraine matter and with these matters that we are discussing in these articles, then I think this just emboldens the president even further to continue to do what he’s doing,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) told MSNBC.
But Democrats abandoned their cries for a speedy trial.
Instead, they’ve come up with all the things they need, such as documents and witnesses, to move forward. Is it just me, or shouldn’t Pelosi have demanded these things before the articles were voted on?
I thought the House was supposed to build a solid case before transferring it to the Senate. Perhaps this explains Pelosi’s delay in action.
The Hill adds:
They’ve asked for four witnesses, including former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Schumer also sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to the full Senate outlining what documents Democrats are requesting, namely Ukraine-related communications between top White House officials.
Democrats need to win over at least four GOP senators to get their desired witnesses or documents, and are expected to force votes on the Senate floor. No Republicans have backed their request. But Democrats are warning that a trial without witnesses or additional documents would amount to a “sham.”
“I believe that if we don’t do this seriously and get all the facts out, yes, America’s at risk because that will mean we’ll never have a real impeachment trial. Because if you can’t get the fundamental and basic facts getting out to the public and for the senators to hear, this president could be further emboldened,” Schumer told reporters.
He added that if Trump could avoid “any serious trial by withholding facts, withholding witnesses, withholding documents, the country has future trouble.”
Still, Democrats hold tight to impeachment.
Ask any card-carrying liberal, they’ll say Trump left them no choice. Impeachment was the only option. I can see what they mean. Surely, Trump was all wrong to try and look into Biden’s crimes.
On the flip side, it was just fine for Biden to withhold a billion dollars from the Ukraine.
Kevin Jackson chronicled Biden’s own words:
“I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion.’ I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,’” Biden recalled telling Poroshenko.
“Well, son of a bitch, he got fired..”
So Biden made sure no one investigated his son, and again, that’s ok.
As I previously wrote:
If only I had a dime for every time Biden’s repeated “my son did nothing wrong.” It wasn’t wrong to accept a 2.8 carat diamond from a Chinese businessman. And it wasn’t wrong for Hunter to ditch his wife to hook up with his dead brother’s fiancé. Then there’s the questionable choice of putting a drug addict in charge of a $40M deal. But according to Joe, the only problem is the fact that he was clueless. Joe just had no idea there would be a conflict of interest tangled up in all this mess.
Corruption is not the problem, according to Democrats. However, Trump’s vow to end corruption creates issues. I’m sure that makes perfect sense in some alternate universe.
